ziggyzora

what about a combo? red and yellow?

Ahhhhh Those are so dreamy gorgeous. :thewave:

That blue one looks amazing, is there a close up of it on it's own? Hoping I understand oxblood correctly now, as a colour made by only MF Christensen but sometimes referred to as oxblood if a similar colour appears in other marbles. Under a (cheap x10) eyeglass my one looks like the thick strand is made of lots of thin strands close together and almost looks like painted on the surface by a shaky hand. It doesn't look translucent but some of the white is translucent. No idea whether or not it is a horsehair oxblood.

Thank you Steph for your answer, I am always interested to hear others thoughts or opinions on different marbles. A lot of things seem confusing to me, or inconclusive and maybe that's because they are. It is a shame sometimes that people don't give their thoughts because they may not be sure, then if no one does, without discussion it remains a mystery.

Could this be one, or is it something else? The 2 german sparklers have thin lines of deep red, would you call this oxblood?

Very pretty All the best with your auctions, love the red and purple slags.

Here are some cat eyes, the clearest of clear. I have many cat eyes or 'ordinaries' as we used to call them, from many different collections but these are part of about 25 found in one collection. They are clearer and more vivid than any others I have seen. Would love to know if anyone knows where and when they came from.

:Happy_143: FAB That has to be the coolest thing since Goldfinger did Superman!

Not sure if I have any true browns but maybe these count

Yes it is! but if you can't see it, a name helps you visualize the subject faster than description and construction. Also interesting is the period and country of origin. However, buying on the net is very iffy unless there is a clear pic. Marbles are often so badly described on ebay UK I don't know whether to cringe, laugh or cry.

I tend to agree on handmade. Does anyone own any similar marbles to those 'cats eyes'? Got any pics? If this was an advert perhaps the hidden message is buy some new marbles instead of using family pass downs. That would make sense if only these didn't seem so rare. That rarity could be explained by what Jo suggested before as could they be experimental, but if so why would the company portray them as uninteresting?

THANK YOU. That is such a relief it was driving me so mad I couldn't look. I tried to work it out myself and failed, now I can get back to enjoying the site.

Sorry if this isn't the right place to ask but I used to be able to click on a topic and view all replies by scrolling up and down, now I can only read the topic and have to click on the replies below to view them. This has been bugging me so much the last 2 days I can't concentrate on the content. Please can anyone help me get my view back to how it was?

I like those Czech corks, haven't seen that type before. House of Marbles is in the Teign Valley in Devon about 100 miles from me, I really should make the effort to visit one day. I believe there is a guided tour where you can the the glass blowers at work as well as shop and cafe. I know they make some very nice handmades which sell for around £20-£40 but didn't realize they made these cheap versions too.

The 1st in that row reminds me of these which a bought for about 50p each in UK c2003 described as new handmade, the glass is not the quality of usual handmades and they have a single pontil mark which looks different to the usual sort, I guess these are the Czech corks mentioned. The ones I like are the 2nd and last which remind me of old handmade single ribbon but with quite plain ribbon.

Those 'cats eyes' look amazing, they are so different from any group I have seen pictured together and called the same thing. I can't believe these were really so unappreciated. I would love to see any similar ones if anyone has any pics.

Thank you both for id on my Akro double ingot marble. It would be great to know what era it was made if anybody knows. Good luck to Zen on his quest for more of his marble!

Sorry about my poor pics, each pic is of the same 3 marbles which are all glass base and about 10/16ths. Two are now headed back for the German sparkler jar but I have tried to add better pics of the reddish one just in case. Whilst on the subject I have also added a pic of a blue base marble which I assume is German sparkler but I have never seen another in coloured glass. It would be interesting to see if anybody has any coloured glass sparklers to show. (the blue one is about 11/16ths). Thanks again for all your help.

Thank you both for your ideas/opinion, I am none the wiser as your thoughts are so different. If it helps the 3 marbles came from separate collections in UK. Until I got the red one recently the other 2 were kept in a jar with what I think of as German sparklers, however I decided to regroup the 3 as maybe something else as they are all distinctly different from the other sparklers having a pattern towards the outer and not in the middle. The red one is quite different again, it has a clear base, hard to see for the blurry red strands then other colour strands nearer the surface. Any further thoughts are most appreciated.

Hi Zen, I have one very similar, about 3/4 (against a ruler), distinct lilac base it really stands out from my white/cream base ones and is more unusual in size. I would also like to see any others and learn more about them. Zora.

All I can say is they are machine made, probably old and I really like them. Hopefully somebody can tell me more about them. It would be especially interesting to know where and when they were made, but any info or opinion would be great.

They look great! Do you think column 1 row 3, and column 2 row 5 could be replacements? They seem more edge defined, a little denser blue, finer band and maybe more opalecent. I have only a few marbles in this colourway and pattern and no knowledge on them but very eager to learn too.

A couple of candies for you Felicia - a bit battered but the most candy-like I've got.

MMM I can taste it right now!

That white background when enhanced certainly makes the pics look more striking, probably more saleable, but still I like the sincerity of the original pics and somehow they look more crisp. With the lighting you have available, are you able to extend the depth of field (maybe a smaller aperture?), to get the core and outer both really sharp? I have tried a few times to photograph my marbles using different conditions and still not happy with results. Yours still look great, good luck with any improvements.